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Thousands of Palestinians crossed into Egypt, as the border wall with Gaza in Rafah was blown up by militants.The breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on January 23, after gunmen in the Gaza Strip set off an explosion near the Rafah Border Crossing, destroying part of the former Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. The United Nations estimated about 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip crossed the border into Egypt seeking food and supplies.
On Sunday, February 10, a fire broke out in Namdaemun, the most historically significant gate in Seoul, South Korea, and the first of that nation's National Treasures, severely damaging the wooden structure at the top of the gate. The fire was an arson fire set by Korean citizen Chae Jong-gi. The fire roared out of control again after midnight and finally destroyed the structure, despite the effort of several firefighters. |
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| President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan survived an assassination attempt on April 27 when Taliban militants fired gunshots and rockets at a military parade in central Kabul. Cabinet ministers, generals and foreign diplomats ducked for cover after shots rang out at the heavily guarded ceremony near the presidential palace. |
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Bodyguards bundled Karzai into one of a convoy of vehicles that sped away. In a similar event, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, survived an assassination attempt. Shots were fired at Gilani's car in the capital, Islamabad, but he was not inside. It was going to the airport to collect him. Two bullets hit the front window on the driver's side of the black Mercedes limousine.
India was worst hit by series of bomb blasts in metro and semi-metropolitan cities starting from May this year. The first in the league was Jaipur where a series of nine blasts over a span of 15 minutes claimed 63 lives, and injured 216. The second series of nine bomb blasts took place on 25 July in Bengalooru, and claimed 2 lives, while injuring 20.The next day, on 26 July in Ahmedabad, a spurt of 21 blasts killed 56 people and injured over 200. The Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Jaipur bombings through an email sent to Indian media. Similar to the Jaipur case, after the Ahmedabad blasts, several TV channels reported that they received e-mails from the Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the terror attacks. Delhi too rocked with a series of five synchronized bomb blasts that took place within a span of few minutes on September 13 at various locations.
A car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least five. The blast, accompanied by a large explosion blew out windows of houses and offices several hundred yards away and destroyed a 20-foot section of embassy wall and the guard house in June. Another bomb exploded in Islamabad at the Marriott Hotel turning it into ruins and killing at least 17 people.
Many died and several were injured after bombs exploded in Baghdad and Kirkuk, . In the attacks in Baghdad, three women used suicide vests and a bomb in a bag to make strikes just minutes apart, pilgrims marching in a festival.
Devotees created havoc in India on two occasions leading to stampedes. The rush occurred in August at a Hindu temple at Naina Devi in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, India which is said to have killed 162 and injured about 400 pilgrims. The following month a Jodhpur temple stampede in western India killed over 224 people, and injured 400.
The standoff between Thai protesters and government supporters intensified on November 25 as hundreds of protesters stormed Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport terminal after scuffling with riot police. Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (Pad) – some masked and armed with metal rods - stormed police lines and roamed through the sprawling $4 billion terminal as startled tourists looked on. The airport was forced to cancel all departing flights as protesters surged into terminal.
Thai authorities reopened Suvarnabhumi international airport on 5 December as a birthday present to the country's popular King Bhumibol Adulyadej who turned 81.
The war on terror in Mumbai was on Saturday, 29 November, wrapped up by the security forces that eliminated three terrorists in Taj hotel after almost 60 hours of intense battle with the band of ultras who struck the country's financial capital killing at least 150 people. Nearly 300 were injured in the battle, which began when the ten militants split into groups to attack multiple targets across the city, including the main railway station and a hospital.
The magnitude of the attack by suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba elements, who are believed to have come by the sea route from Karachi, could be gauged from the statement of Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil who said with the ammunition the terrorists had, they could have killed 5,000 people. In all, nine terrorists were killed while one was captured alive in "Operation Tornado" executed by the NSG alongwith the army and naval commandos and Maharashtra police.
The security forces rescued 250 people in Oberoi, 300 in Taj and 12 families of 60 people in Nariman House. |
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